CS Mar-Apr 2024

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2024 predictions ?? ? Corey Nachreiner, WatchGuard Technologies: expecting a major headline-stealing hack in 2024. David Mahdi, Transmit Security: phishing attacks have increased over 1,200% in 2023 - a meteoric rise since the release of GenAI. IRVIN SHILLINGFORD, REGIONAL MANAGER, NORTHERN EUROPE, HORNETSECURITY "In 2024, businesses are faced with an everexpanding landscape of options, configurations and integrations to leverage the full potential of cloud computing. However, this rising complexity also amplifies the potential scope for cybersecurity attacks. Intricate systems may harbour vulnerabilities that, if exploited, could compromise sensitive data and pose significant threats to organisational security. "There's no doubt that the proliferation of generative AI has ushered in a new era of cyber-attacks, with sophisticated and adaptive algorithms being employed to execute unpredictable malicious activities. "The growing prominence of AI, coupled with the increasing complexity of cloud systems, has heightened the potential for cyber-attacks, as AI-driven threats ultimately look to exploit intricate vulnerabilities within cloud infrastructures. "With the launch of ChatGPT, the most widely known large language model (LLM), we've seen some evidence of threat actors using generative AI tools to prepare attacks and help write malware. Whilst the media have largely covered this malicious side of AI, the power of LLMs will also be used increasingly to help defenders. Two clear examples are log analysis and report writing, but it'll be exciting to see how it will help security analysts deal with workload and better protect their businesses. "There were countless examples of cloudrelated cyber-attacks throughout 2023, from Amazon S3 buckets being left unsecured, or even the breach of 38TBs worth of data stolen from Microsoft, due to a misconfigured Azure storage account. These are just examples involving cloud storage and don't include the massive adoption of cloud APIs or increasingly complex network configurations. "The rise of AI has also played a role in enabling cyber attackers to devise sophisticated strategies to bypass Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) measures in businesses and compromise security defences. This includes fatigue attacks, which overwhelm users with numerous prompts and cause them to ultimately click 'accept' to prevent more notifications. "As businesses continue to adopt cloud technologies at a rapid scale, and with the increase in cloud-related innovation in the industry, security sometimes seems like an afterthought. Becoming cyber-resilient takes time, effort and persistence. Organisations must implement robust security measures, understand the technology they use, and ensure that employees are trained to recognise potential attacks and know the escalation process. By adopting a comprehensive approach that combines technology, education and proactive measures, businesses can significantly enhance their cybersecurity strategy." IAN ROBINSON, CHIEF ARCHITECT, TITANIA "Following a record-breaking number of cyberattacks in 2023, organisations are expecting more of the same in 2024. And with 220,975 published CVEs (taken from https://www.cve. org/ 5 Jan 24), it's not surprising that organisations are looking for more effective ways to analyse, understand and improve their risk posture at any given time - to stay off the 'breached list'. "No small feat when tasked with tens of thousands of vulnerabilities, due to out-ofdate software and misconfigurations across the attack surface. Risk-based vulnerability management (RBVM) therefore has to be the priority, to understand, device-by-device, how best to deploy resources to remediate the most critical risks first. RBVM, coupled with a focus on regularly assessing critical segments. Not just at the perimeter (firewalls), but from the interior, too, because router and switch 20 computing security March/April 2024 @CSMagAndAwards www.computingsecurity.co.uk
2024 predictions ?? ? security is the key to maintaining effective zero trust network segmentation that stops ransomware in its tracks. And keeping critical applications and data segmented, isolated and protected from automated attacks. "As any changes to device configurations - planned or unplanned - can expose networks and enable lateral movement through privilege escalation, organisations have woken up to the fact that it's no longer enough to assess devices once a quarter. Particularly as changes are potential indicators of compromise (IOCs) and should be assessed immediately. But achieving continuous network assurance in a practical way has previously been a challenge. 2024 should see organisations investing in solutions that change all this. "Proactively assessing network changes, as they occur, to determine when changes result in deviation away from a secure state - and then overlaying this risk data with ATT&CK vectors and adversary tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP)s - takes RBVM to the next level. Especially when we consider that less than 4% of known exploited vulnerabilities, according to CISA, have ever been used by attackers in the wild." And Robinson concludes: "Looking at vulnerabilities through an attacker's lens enables organisations to determine where they need to deploy resources to harden their networks to the best effect. Through this risk lens, organisations can view both their current posture to techniques being used in the wild and inform threat hunting with historic network posture analysis. Closing the loop, channelling remediation efforts on known exploited vulnerabilities that are most likely to be exploited right now, will help prevent any nasty surprises in 2024." TIM FREESTONE, CHIEF STRATEGY AND MARKETING OFFICER, KITEWORKS Despite bans and restrictions, the number of businesses using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) large language models (LLMs) are increasing as the competitive advantages become too significant to ignore, insists Tim Freestone, chief strategy and marketing officer, Kiteworks. "Even with advances in security controls, data breaches stemming from GenAI LLM misuse will rise in 2024. This will force data security to be a central part of GenAI LLM strategies," he states. "Managed file transfer (MFT) tools are useful for the digital transfer of data. However, many are based on decades-old technology that have inherent security deficiencies. Two major MFT tools experienced zero-day exploits in 2023. It is likely that rogue nation-states and cybercriminals will continue to exploit such vulnerabilities in legacy MFT solutions in 2024, too." Email remains the number one attack vector, he adds. "However, like legacy MFT solutions, legacy email systems lack modern security capabilities. Until organisations embrace an email protection gateway where email is sent, received and stored using zero-trust policy management with single-tenant hosting, email security will remain a serious risk factor." Data privacy is a global concern. "Gartner predicts that personal data for threequarters of the world's population will be covered by data privacy regulations by the end of 2024 and the average annual budget for privacy in a company exceed $2.5 million." In 2024, businesses will be under heightened strain to protect confidential data, Freestone adds. "It is time for organisations to hit the reset button. "Only by adopting zero-trust architectures, detailed security models based on content, strong access management, integrated DRM, DLP and the like, can organisations mitigate the risks and uphold compliance." Irvin Shillingford, Hornetsecurity: the proliferation of generative AI has ushered in a new era of cyber-attacks. Tim Freestone, Kiteworks: data breaches stemming from GenAI LLM misuse will rise in 2024. www.computingsecurity.co.uk @CSMagAndAwards March/April 2024 computing security 21
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CS Mar-Apr 2024

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